School admissions in Haywards Heath

How heavily each school was applied to for September 2026 entry, from the applications and offers every admissions authority reports to the DfE. Sorted by first preferences per place. We don't invent rankings: the order is arithmetic on a published figure, not a view about which school is better.

Reception places, September 2026

17 schools. 3 received more first preferences than they had places.

School	First preferences per place	Places	Cutoff distance
Lindfield Primary AcademyHaywards Heath	1.39	89	not published
Handcross Primary SchoolHaywards Heath	1.17	29	2714.72 m (≈1.69 mi) 2026
Northlands Wood Primary AcademyHaywards Heath	1.02	59	1417.27 m (≈0.88 mi) 2026
Danehill Church of England Primary SchoolHaywards Heath	1.00	4	7872 m (≈4.89 mi) 2023
St. Mark's CofE Primary SchoolHaywards Heath	1.00	12	not published
St Joseph's Catholic Primary SchoolHaywards Heath	0.97	60	1334.22 m (≈0.83 mi) 2026
Balcombe Cofe Primary SchoolHaywards Heath	0.95	20	5957.59 m (≈3.70 mi) 2026
Harlands Primary SchoolHaywards Heath	0.95	60	1396.92 m (≈0.87 mi) 2026
St Giles CofE Primary SchoolHaywards Heath	0.95	20	3701.51 m (≈2.30 mi) 2026
Holy Trinity Church of England Primary School, CuckfieldHaywards Heath	0.95	55	2991.81 m (≈1.86 mi) 2025
Bolnore Village Primary SchoolHaywards Heath	0.93	59	912.57 m (≈0.57 mi) 2025
St Wilfrid's CofE Primary SchoolHaywards Heath	0.91	54	1085.32 m (≈0.67 mi) 2023
Bolney CofE Primary SchoolHaywards Heath	0.90	10	not published
Warden Park Primary AcademyHaywards Heath	0.82	57	1971.82 m (≈1.23 mi) 2024
St Augustine's CofE Primary SchoolHaywards Heath	0.79	14	not published
St Peter's CofE Primary SchoolHaywards Heath	0.75	12	not published
Blackthorns Community Primary SchoolHaywards Heath	0.70	30	607.75 m (≈0.38 mi) 2023

First preferences per place is the number of families naming the school first, divided by its published admission number. Above 1.00 means more first choices than places. It is not a ranking and not a measure of quality: a popular school can be easy to get into and a quiet one hard, because places are allocated by each school's own criteria, siblings and faith and banding first, with distance often the last tie-breaker. Applications and offers on national offer day, DfE.